https://mafiainaustralia.wordpress.com/

[calabrianwatch]

Stefano Pelle was also famous for having tried to punch journalists during Bob Trimbole's funerals in 1987


Speaking of Domenico Nirta, I never really knew if he was from the 'ndrina La Maggiore or the 'ndrina Nirta/Strangio. In Calabria, the Pelles are rather allied with the Maggiore, but according to the Italian wikipedia of the 'ndrina Pelle/Strangio, Nirta would be from this clan. https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/%27Ndrina_Strangio

You have more info ?

There are many Nirta clans, both in La Minore and La Maggiore - the Nirta Scalzone are La Maggiore but you can't really just judge from surname.

[AustraliaSteve]

I can understand that. I think going off some recent conversations and research, the Australian Nirta’s are affiliated with La Maggiore - the close cooperation with the Pelle family is an indication.
Also, I earlier said that no Strangio element was present in the 1980 cases; I was wrong. With the Giorgi and Mamoliti families also linked to the Nirta-Pelle bust, the Strangio were there all along.

[motorfab]

It's a hell of a knot !

[AustraliaSteve]

A few updates: Coolabah Wines attempt to have Warburn Estate declared insolvent has been dismissed, with their parent company Divas being ordered to pay the $562k debt owed by the Sergi family to wind up the business. As a writer I know put it, the Griffith Sergi are still untouchable in Griffith. The same writer showed me a submission made by the Wine Grape Growers Association to the Agricultural Board that shows some pretty fucked up practices in the industry around the Riverina in place to this day. Mob style tactics and monopolies. Carrying on from that, Pas Barbaro was apparently trying to debt collect from some of the farmers around the time of his murder; he apparently had Joe Aboud killed over who was going to collect the debts.

In 2022, cattle breeder Tony Larussa was charged with 10kg of meth in his car alongside Antonio Pelle on a farm run by Giuseppe Strangio in WA. Last month Larussa’s charges were overturned. After all that come out over Operation Eureka and Antonio Strangio’s Bali arrest, it’s evident that the Strangio-Nirta are very active in WA. It lines up with the Operation Ironside charges of Francisco Nirta and Francesco Romeo shipping $4million in meth from SA to WA.

Waiting on some documents on some old NCA investigations such as Operation Cerberus, will share what I can.

[AustraliaSteve]

Updates on some things I’m working on:
Checking some old court files and found some interesting things. During Domenic Perre’s appeal for the NCA Bombing murder conviction, his defence put forward Bruno “The Fox” Romeo as a potential suspect.
Reading over Madaferri’s appeal post Lawyer X/Nicola Gobbo, apparently it was Joe Acquaro (who himself was working with the police) was the one who initially made the AFP aware of the issues with Francesco’s visa. I knew Vincenzo Crupi is being charged with Acqauro’s murder and that Madaferri is suspected of organising it after Acquaro was supposedly cooperating because of Madaferri “corrupting” his sons, but the visa issue definitely adds more motive.
And Antonietta Mannella, who is in jail for helping run her partners drug operation from his own jail cell, has been charged with obtaining $2.3 million in home loans fraudulently. She claims her sister impersonated her to obtain the funds, which were none the less paid into her accounts. Antonietta is the daughter of Gerardo Mannella, who was murdered in 1999 months after his brother Vincenzo. Vincenzo was an associate of the Carlton Crew and was named as being a member of the Melbourne Barbaro/Madaferri ‘ndrina. He was a heavy gambler and standover in the fruit and vegetable markets, and his unsolved murder is believed to be related to unpaid debts and conflicts with other Melbourne identities. His brother Gerardo was murdered after he supposedly began asking too many pointed questions about who killed his brother.

[AustraliaSteve]

Bah, the Operation Cerberus files were a bust, it was just the 19 page report on the findings. It’s a frustrating document that is a major exercise in hair-splitting by claiming there is no active mafia in Australia, but simply several clans that operate in a similar manner to the Italian mafias, primarily involved in drugs, extortion, money laundering through legal businesses etc. of mainly Calabrian extraction. So, the ‘ndrangheta.

I’ve applied for several more files to be opened, in the meantime, I’ll keep posting what’s new.

[B.]

Keep it up, Steve. You're on the frontier of something great.

[AustraliaSteve]

Hey, thank you brother. Coming from you, that’s sincerely appreciated. You guys are absolutely killing it with the podcast, and I’ll readily confirm that applying some of the methods from your Research Thread helped elevate my own research.

What’s really interesting is this Antonio Delfino guy from 1913. If I can manage to dig up just a little more info, i may be able to confirm an ‘ndrangheta presence a decade earlier than what is reportedly believed.

Thanks again though brother B. Juggling work, family, study and this research is an effort.

[AustraliaSteve]

I’ve been sidelined with this fascinating case I’ve literally stumbled across. In 1993, Vince Italiano and Paul Berghella were charged with the murder of Frank Mazzarino.
The murder took place in Perth, where Italiano and Bergella resided. From what I can gather, the murder was over a $300k stake in a shady deal in Singapore that Mazzarino was a part of. He supposedly failed to raise his share.Some articles point to an unpaid hotel bill as well (wtf?)
A witness watched Mazzarino being confronted in their workshop (the witness, Mazzarino’s roommate, was an electrician). Apparently they approached Mazzarino, asked him to pay the debt and then gave him a roundhouse kick to the head, whereupon Frank is alleged to have said “Give it your best shot. I’ve been expecting you guys”.
The witness, Michael Lewis, was then asked to wait outside the workshop. He claimed that when he came back inside, Mazzarino was on the floor, with his head wrapped in a towel.

Vince is the son of Pasquale Italiano, who was identified as a leading Society member of Adelaide during Operation Seville. The Italiano family of course have long been recognised as one of SA’s first families, tracing back to the Pope himself (Domenico Italiano). What’s crazy though is Pasquale died in a bizarre murder/suicide when he killed his brother and sister in law in 1991. Investigators said they couldn’t get any information from the Calabrian community in Perth, and no one knows why Pasquale lost it.

Anyway, out of time for now. Update soon.

[Tmr88]

Hey guys, new poster here. Pleasure to meet ya’s!

Have any of you read this book Grass, by Terry O’Donnell? He was a lawyer for David Eastman and was on the recent Under Investigation docos w Dr Sergi.

Preeeetty interesting read imo

[AustraliaSteve]

Hey guys, new poster here. Pleasure to meet ya’s!

Have any of you read this book Grass, by Terry O’Donnell? He was a lawyer for David Eastman and was on the recent Under Investigation docos w Dr Sergi.

Preeeetty interesting read imo

Um.. as far as i know that book is fiction my dude…? The actual case is a pretty interesting without having to go into a fictional account. Not having a go, just what i gathered. I might be wrong..?

Speaking of which, months following Perre’s death, his legal team has decided to keep trying to clear his name under a “mercy plea”…? I’m trying to get more details from a journalist I’m in contact with, but from what I can gather Perre’s children are funding it in an attempt to posthumously clear his name. Apparently there’s ANOTHER Adelaide-based ‘ndranghetisti they’re planning on pinning it on, not Bruno The Fox, but another yet-unnamed mobster. Apparently Perre himself was unaware that his team was planning to use the defence, which could indicate that he himself might have been uncomfortable with it. I’ll update as I learn more.

[AustraliaSteve]

So updating on some other WA stuff suggested by a contact of mine, and looking through citizenship records you can definitely see a concentration of Delianovese in the Bunbury/Brunswick/Wokalop/Harvey area (these are of the families related to the Papalia-Italiano ‘ndrina, such as the Italiano, Carbone, Gangemi, Strano amd DeMarte).

Lots of info available on Domenico (sic) Italiano, born 1895, a contemporary of the Pope Italiano (born 3/2/1897). Dr Sergi suggests this is an elder relative of Peppe’ntoni Italiano, who’s son Giasone is one of the leading figures in the Italiano ‘ndrina today. I find lots of cases involving him, his brother Michele and his cousins.

In 1932, he is shot in Tasmania by Jim Vincenzo Carouso (sic) in a “fit of anger” https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/art ... %20couruso . Several other Italians are present, a friend suggest some Carbones were present, but I haven’t been able to confirm.

In 1942, Italiano was arrested alongside Antonio Papalia and Giuseppe Carbone for being in a licensed premises after-hours. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/art ... arvey%20wa

In 1949, he was charged in the theft of two axes and curiously,in 1951 he claimed to have been riding his bicycle when he was attacked by an assailant he refused to identify. He was observed waking down the street with stab wounds, and upon being reported to police who brought him in for questioning and sent him for a medical exam, which uncovered some bullet wounds in him as well. Tough old bastard. A contact of mine suggests this as proof of some case of dishonourable offence being rectified https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/art ... arvey%20wa.

Plenty more involving his brother Archangelo Michele. A great example of his violent nature is an incident in 1944 where he stabbed a man for acting badly around women, with a local farmer named Vincenzo Madaferri present (the Madaferri name obviously jumped out at me) https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/art ... ph%20sauer.

Plenty more to come, I’ll update when I have more time.

[AustraliaSteve]

Just a quick edit: a lot of the references to Domenico alternate the spelling with Domenic or Dominico (hence the original sic). I’ve gone with the traditional spelling in as many cases that I can confidently link the right guy.

[motorfab]

Excellent researchs here. I never dig too much into Pope Italiano's history. Interesting to note he was arrested with a man named Antonio Papalia. Some Papalias were active later in Melbourne and Sydney:

Domenico Papalia killed on 10/95/1987 in Melbourne
Filippo Papalia killed on 03/09/1989 in Sydney
Antonio Papalia killed on 03/09/1990 in Canley Vare, near Sydney

It's probably not the same Antonio Papalia, but maybe a relative ?

[AustraliaSteve]

Hey Fabien,
Just to clarify, this Domenico is a cousin to the Pope, but yeah, definitely find the links to the Papalia interesting. I remember a researcher on one of the old boards posited that the Papalia clan had been wiped out in Australia by the time of those three murders, and it annoyed me that Gilling and Small didn’t link these murders at all in Evil Life.